Robin's Night Out- Completed Edition
by daphnap
Summary: took me long enough, huh? Robin becomes embroiled in a drug ring that is anything but about drugs.


Title: Robin's Night Out

Spoilers: Nightwing #38

Rating: PG-13 Language, that's all

Archive: Yes please! Just tell me

Summary: Robin gets embroiled in a drug ring, that's anything about drugs. 

****

I scanned the skyline of Bludhaven. Man, it was ugly. But it was Dick's town and I had to keep it under wraps while he was at Blackgate. He was right, this town needed all the help it could get. I was crouched on the roof of a rundown warehouse over looking the Angel 1, the booze and sex district of Bludhaven's upper Westside. This place was nearing Gotham in low factor. 

I peered out of the binoculars at the building across the street where my quarry lay. It was Vince Langley, otherwise known as Slash on the street.He was a small time drugs dealer who had been selling spiked heroin to some kids down at Bludhaven High. I was really happy I didn't have to go to that school. Already two kids had died from the bad batch, and five more where in the hospital. This guy was going to jail if I had any say. Which I usually don't, but I was going to try.

I shifted my feet; they were getting tired as I peered at the business transaction going on across the street. Vince was brokering a deal with a local meth producer and heroin distributor. His name was George, and had been sent to Blackgate a number of times before he escaped and made a life for him in Bludhaven. It was a nice life; the flat looked dingy on the outside, but inside the place was furnished with a 50" plasma screen and vibrating bed. Did I mention George had bad taste?Vince was trying to get control over all transaction within the upper Westside. 

I checked the binoculars to see if they were recording this. Oracle was able to get me a feed into their security system and I had complete audio and visual of the whole deal. I thought maybe Vince was going to buy out George but than I forgot we were in Bludhaven. George said something that pissed him off and Vince pulled out a gun and mowed down George. Before George's guards were able to react, they lay bleeding and dead as Vince's guards had a little fun. That what was nice about Bludhaven, they did my job for me.

I keyed my mike, paging Babs, "Did you get that?" I asked into the little mike that was nestled near the throat of the collar on the cape that I wore. I could here her smiling. "Everything down to the rolls of the r's." She told she had already notified the police and that they would be there soon. Soon my ass, it would take some time for Bludhaven's finest to get up off their drunken bums and figure out which key is to their car. Enough time for me to do what I needed to do.

There was nothing I could do now, Vince's guards stood around congratulating each other as Vince made a beeline to the poorly hidden safe behind the flat screen TV. It was a slandered safe; the only thing high-tech about it was the retinal scan, which Vince didn't bother with. He took a crowbar and smacked the safes door. It popped open quickly, revealing a stash of bills and a small black box.

To my surprise, he bypassed the money and grabbed the black box as if it held the key to world domination. He yanked it open, reveling in the stash of heroin and crack cocaine. He was a user. I adjusted the binoculars to zoom in on the powder filled bag. Wait a sec; it wasn't only cocaine in there. He pulled out a syringe, his face lighting up. Was it a drug? I focused the lenses a little more. The liquid inside it was tinted red, but that was all that I could see. There was no label or marking on the side. I panned out, once again able to see the whole room. 

Vince satisfied that he had got what he had come for left the room, motioning the guards to follow. They left the room, not exactly as they had found it. The door slammed shut to their receding backs, cueing my action. I tucked the binoculars back into the small pouch on my glove and I dashed across the roof of the building. According to my calculations, Vincent and his boys should be crossing the street, to where their cars are parked, right behind this nice abandoned warehouse that I was so conveniently located. I shimmied effortlessly down a drain pipe and dashed behind a dumpster, getting out of sight just in time before the first of Vincent's goons walked down the alley to the hidden car. A guy had been in the car but I had slipped in some sleeping gas and he was out like a rock while I had set the tracer an hour before. The driver looked like he had been sleeping. Vincent was pissed that his man had slept on the job. And as he smacked the goon around, I came up behind the gang.

"Hello." I said as the whole lot of them turned and faced me in surprise. As common to most reactions people face when they see me, all of them charged at me, a deafening roar escaping from their collective lips. I flipped back, my legs kicking two of the goons in the jaw as I landed easily two feet away. Fists flew, punches tried to connect, but I deftly maneuvered my way around, releasing a canister of sleeping gas and slipping a gas diffuser over my nose. Soon the goons and Vincent lay sprawled on the floor, in their previous respective positions. I stepped over the bodies and reached Vincent's. I groped through his coat pocket, pulling out the syringe. Exactly what I was looking for. I tied up the goons, popped the tires of the cars and called it a night. 

As I was swinging across Bludhaven's skyline, I was reminded once again why I was doing this in the first place, the spirit of adventure. Sure, saving lives was the main part, but it didn't hurt to have a little fun on the side. It wasn't lost to me that most of Young Justice considered me a Minime of Batman, but it didn't hurt when you needed to use intimidation when it was required. But those uninitiated to the bat family would think the whole lot of us as dark sociopaths who have no lives outside of their vigilante occupation. But if any of the JLA and young justice took a good look, they would notice that the bat family wasn't anything but an intricately fit puzzle. Robin, if found partnered with Batman, would be the wise cracking, rash sidekick. But when placed in a group element, Robin, me, becomes the kid clone of the dark night. It's kind of discerning.

I finally landed on the roof of Dick's apartment building. It wasn't much to look at on the outside but the landowner kept it running smoothly. I snuck in through the window into Dick's apartment. Dick was, of course, not asleep. He had sent for me after the Black gate incident. Babs had other things to take care of, but Dick needed care. All I know of the incident was that they parted with a kiss, a big one. Was I grinning like a baby? No, not me, of course not. But of course, being Dick, he kind of ruined the moment when his face clutched tight with pain in the middle of the kiss.

Dick was insistent that he should go out on patrol. Tonight I caught him in his costume, sneaking out the window, he still wasn't even a month into his recovery and already he was trying to go on patrol. It took all my strength to push him back on the couch, toss him the remote control, and using my best batman voice, told him to stay put. He laughed in my face. I laughed along with him, but of course it was only a diversion and he tried to rush on past me. I slammed the window shut, sorely tempted to tie him to the chair and leave him here. I told him so; he just rolled his eyes, and let me lead him back to the couch, I was going out on patrol tonight. I told him to stay put, and if I heard of a limping black and blue clad superhero prancing around, I would get him. He just smiled and tried to make a crack at my sudden control over the place. I just waved goodbye, and jumped out of the window, locking it tight before I left. Unbeknownst to him, I had place a tracker on his suit before I left. If he indeed left, I would know.

So instead of Nightwing prowling the dark recesses of Bludhaven, boy wonder was doing the job for him. So as the police sirens jingled in the background, I sent out a line and went flying. I had the syringe and I was heading over to Dick's garage, he had some equipment there that might come in handy. A few minutes later I was landing on the roof of a warehouse on the docks of Bludhaven. I slipped through the roof entrance, landing softly on the floor behind Dick's car. I paused. Wait a second. Dick's car? I peeked behind the car. Sure enough, Dick was seating, rather painfully, on the chair in front of the computer. I sighed, trying to put on an angry face as he turned to smile at me.

"So, boy wonder, the tracer wasn't exactly up to specs, now was it?" He tossed me the crushed tracer. "Next time, put one on both costumes."

I shook my head in dismay as I walked beside him, looking over his shoulder onto the computer screen, "So, Babs, did you help him?" Her face smiled at me innocently, here eyes bright with mischief. 

"Of course not, hot pants, why would I do that?" She was typing away on here computer. "Do you have the syringe?" She asked, looking at me expectantly.

"You were supposed to be on my side." I grumbled as I withdrew the syringe from my pocket, "Here," I said as I handed it to Nightwing, "Don't kill yourself."

He smiled at me ruefully, and slipped the syringe into the chemo-analyzer. The syringe began to spin and it would take a few minutes before Oracle's computer would process the chemicals and give a feed. So I would have another few minutes with sick boy and joke girl. Wee, what fun.

I sighed and turned to look at Dick, "You never listen do you?" I asked. He threw up his hands in disgust and amusement.

"It's like telling Bruce to sleep in once. It's useless."

I shook my head. "Doesn't matter, you have to be resting and recuperating not flirting with Babs."

"I'm not flirting!"

"And she was just giving you CPR back at her apartment. Right." I laughed, "Alright, if you have the fort held down here, I'm off, call me when the results come in." I shot a line to the skylight and swung up, I waved goodbye from the roof, "And Dick?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"Remember, use protection!" I narrowly missed the sock that flew at me as I jumped into the night.

The next order of business was to find something to do. That problem was soon solved by the beep of my chronometer. Oracle's avatar appeared on the screen, she smiled as she told me, " Robin, I need you to stop by the First National Bank on first and Langley, you know the drill, two perps, both have .45 and are male, have fun." She clicked off and left me to navigate the streets of Bludhaven. I sighed and swung in the general direction.

A few minutes later I landed on the roof of the First National Bank. The police had barricaded the streets and inside the screams of the hostages could be heard. I slipped through an open window a few storied up and made my way through the air ducts to the correct floor. It was a tight fit, and once again I debated the practicality of wearing a cape. Shots rang out below me and I didn't have time to finish the thought. I decided to dispense with the cloak and dagger deal and punched a hole through the duct. As I leaped through the opening I overviewed the scene. I was lucky enough to land behind the two perps and I swung out both my feet, felling them with one fluid movement. They fell to the floor in shock, and then pulled around their guns, trying to take aim. The bullets bounced off of my cape as I sent a batarang with some wire attached. The batarang roped around the first perp's legs, making him to tumble to the ground. The second was trying to get up, but the bulky gun was in his way, and soon, he to was on the floor with his co-worker. It was over within minutes. The police broke through the doors, the paramedics trailing behind. Before they could react to my spandex and Kevlar clothed presence I dashed through a broken window and into the night.

The fight was over quick and I was soaring across Bludhaven's jagged skyline. Even with it's ugly interior, Bludhaven looked beautiful in an eerie sort of way, the lights of the distant buildings blinding me in a single sense of serenity. Then I heard the screams. Bludhaven was back.

I swooped down to a derelict building in one of Bludhaven's outer districts. It was a girl. I really couldn't tell how old she was, fifteen to eighteen, it would depend. She was running the alley, underneath me, her face twisted in a look of horror, her black hair glistening red, a man behind her wielding a knife and sporting a grin that Harm would have to compete with. He cornered her in the alley, a brick wall unyielding to her scratches and claws. I swept down and hit the man upside the head with a boot. He landed on the ground beside the huddled girl, unconscious and unmoving.

The girl looked at me with wide eyes, I could see her trying to decide if I was friend or foe. I held out a hand, an offer to help her up. She looked at me, and her decision was made, she dashed away, scrambling frantically to get away from her assailant and me. She ran out of the alley and into the night. I sighed. Sometimes even when you were a hero, the costume scared people. The assailant was coming to. I hoisted up to my eyelevel with a gloved hand, and whispered through gritted teeth, "What were you doing?"

His eyes were fearful and he looked at me, scared, "I...uh… I was just offering her a ride." His demeanor changed as he finally saw just who was holding him captive, "Hey, your not much older than that girl!" He tried to escape my grasp. I held on tight.

"What were you doing?" I asked again, my voice reaching Batman's baritone. He didn't faze, just grinned at me and laughed.

"You can't do nothing." He spat and I wiped the spittle from my suit. I knew what I had to do. He kept taunting me, calling my Bats Jr. and hot pants. I had enough of this and trussed him, sticking his sock in his mouth and leaving a note for the police. He screamed at me angrily as I sent out a line. I knew full well that he would be out on the streets again, that since there was no victim there was no crime. But it wouldn't hurt me if he would be humiliated for a while.

I sent out a line and flew into the night. The beauty of the skyline was gone now; this incident reminded me that Bludhaven was worse than Gotham in many ways. I found a roof to perch upon, to overlook a nasty district in Bludhaven's interior. I tried to reach Bab's but when she didn't answer I seriously suspected that they didn't need my company at this time. So I was stuck looking down at America's ugly underbelly. Hooker's lined the streets and sold their wares. Addicts and dealers stood by corners, looking emancipated and underfed. Neon lights shined across my face and the sound from bars and nightclubs assaulted my ears, and I realized that I had lived a very sheltered life before I became Robin. 

I stayed there, perched upon the derelict building when I felt a small whoosh of air behind me. Years of training with Batman taught me that if a person does not announce their presence, they usually did not have good intention. It was dark on the warehouse and the neon lights that I had been staring at had blinded me somewhat to the dark, I did not wait for them to adjust as I pounced on the dark figure. I pinned the person to the ground, ready to do what ever was necessary to bring this guy down.

"Even with my TTK, that hurt." He rubbed his head painfully, where it had hit the ground.It was Superboy. I unpinned him and stepped back. 

"What are you doing here?" I sighed as I went back to overlook the city.

"I dunno, I was bored, Bart, actually had homework to do, and since Max was breathing down his back he has to do it normally." He shrugged his shoulders, "Hawaii's boring and I really have nothing to do." He patted me on the back, smiling, "and so I thought we could bond, you know, "He swaggered his eyebrows suggestively, as he pointed to a night club down the street," bond." I shook my head vigorously. 

"No, no way, Kon, please tell me you have something better to do!" He didn't listen tome, but was checking out the numerous college girls spilling out of the nightclub as the party burst on to the street.

He turned to me, "Come on boy wonder, you must have fake ID in their somewhere!" He pointed to my gloves where I stored various things. I shook my head and continued to look below for trouble.

Superboy sighed out loud, his face showing his exasperation as I turned my back to him, "Come on!" He exclaimed in disbelief. He began to say something about how I couldn't have fun and I was such a spoil sport, but I ignored him when I saw the black haired girl from before walking on the side walk, her coat bunched at the shoulders and her face red from the cold. Kon stopped talking as he saw that I wasn't paying attention. He sighed in dismay as he saw once again that I was caught up in something other than my male hormones. "What is it?" he asked, in he tone of voice that meant he really didn't care.

I didn't answer as I pulled out a pair of binoculars, focusing in on the girl. She was talking with one of the dealers on the street; I think his name was Max. She handed a packet of cash, and in return the dealer handed her a small packet, a clear plastic bag with a syringe inside. I focused the binoculars closer, trying to make out the bag clearer. I almost dropped the binoculars when I saw the rose colored substance inside the syringe. The same substance in the syringe I had liberated from Vincent a few hours before.

Kon was looking at me weirdly now. "Uhh, what is it?" He asked again. I motioned him to follow me as I sent out a line. The girl was on the move again. I keyed my comm. To Bab's, hoping that she would pick up.

I heard a groggy voice on the line. It was Dick, on Bab's personal communicator found at her bedside. I did not want to know. "Do you have the composition of the substance?" I asked, hoping he would have an answer quick, the girl was already walking quickly away.

I heard the bed sheets rustling as Dick made his way to the computer. "It's not what you think Tim, don't worry, I was resting, I was following your orders, so don't think anything else. And" He emphasized the word, "don't tell Bruce." I smiled to my self, Kon was surprised that such a feature could come across my face.

"It's a combination of various things, but from what I could tell from the read out it's a toned down version of the Clench, except it's incommunicable, so anyone infected wont be passing it on."I could hear Dick's voice turn grim, "An easy way to kill someone quickly, effortlessly, and without traces." I nodded to myself, making sense of what was going on somewhat. But what was this girl doing with potential poison? Or was it just another form of a street drug, and the two weren't connected at all and I was making inferences? I didn't know but I was going to find out.

I swept across the buildings, following the girl, Kon trailing behind me. I explained to him the situation, omitting the details of Dick and Bab's involvement. He followed closely behind as I we trailed the girl. She reached an apartment building, on one of the better sides of Bludhaven. I focused my binoculars on the elevator pad as she pressed the up button. Which floor was she going to? I swept to the roof of the building, hoping I could find the elevator shaft and see the floor she would be getting off of. A window covered the elevator shaft, and I could see it as it headed upwards to its final destination, the twentieth floor. 

"Were going to visit her very soon." I told him as I swept to the other building, scanning the twentieth floor, hoping to see which room light up. The corner one lit up as the girl entered the apartment. "We have our gal." I smiled as I squinted into the glasses.

"Hey let me see!" Kon tried to grab the lenses but I pushed his hands away.

"If you want to be a voyeur, do it on your own time." I told him as I set down the binoculars. Kon glared at me, his hands folded across his chest like a petulant child.

"I have purely honorable intentions." He stated, his face portraying pure innocence, "I had no thought of looking at her change." He smiled evilly, "None at all."

I stared at him in disbelief, and then turned back to our quarry. "You know, Kon, there are better things to do with your time than following me around."

Now it was his turn to look at me in disbelief, "You mean not coming with you to commit breaking and entering into a cute girl's apartment?!?" He threw his hands up, as if it was the most ridiculous thing he had heard, "So, when are we going in?"

"We aren't going in." I told him, "I'M going in, and YOU'RE staying here." I could see his mouth opening, a whine already at his lips. "No."

"Come on…"

"No."

"But…"

"I said no!"

"Please?"

"No!"

"It wont hurt." Superboy whined, floating in front of me, his hands clasped together, begging me.

I sighed in despair, "All right, but let me do the talking, and let me do the looking." I emphasized the last words. He crossed his arms across his chest, like a petulant child, nodding his head in agreement. "Can you fly me over to the window, quietly?" I asked, he nodded and flew across the distance between the two buildings, until we were hovering beside the window. I withdrew a lock pick. Kon was about to offer a suggestion, until I gave him the bat-stare. He shut up, and I went back to work. Soon, the window opened and I slipped within the room. Superboy landed quietly behind me, and we navigated beside the girl's bedside.

She was asleep, her black hair splayed across the pillow, I stared at her, it was funny, I didn't even know her name. I was about to wake her when I thought of something. I motioned for Kon to stay put and quiet. He looked at me strangely as I reached for the bed stand. I picked up the small journal that lay there, checking the inside cover. It read, "This book belongs to: Sarah Goldberg" I smiled to myself, I had a name now. 

I approached the bed once more, eyeing Kon. He stood on the other side of the bed, looking around, eyeing the pictures of popular rock bands that lined the walls. I reached for the girl; she shifted under her blankets, her face scrunched in the middle of a dream. I could see the bruises from the encounter before, but ignored them as I shook her awake. 

She shifted under my fingers, but soon she opened her eyes. I placed my hand over her mouth quickly, to stifle her reaction. She lurched beneath me, her body jerking as she realized she was confined. I kept my hand in place, as I made quieting noises to her. "Shh, shh…" She looked at me fearfully, recognizing my mask, as the person that she had encountered before. Her eyes were wide and she stopped struggling.

"I'll withdraw my hand, if you promise not to scream." I told her, she nodded at me fearfully, her body stiff. I slowly pulled my hand away, fully expecting her to scream. But I was pleasantly surprised as she pulled the blankets closer to herself.

"What do you want?" Her voice was shaky, and a hitch could be heard in her throat.

"I'm not here to hurt you, I just want to find out a few things." I told her, my hands to my side as I watched her look me up and down. 

"What do you want to know?" she asked, her eyes closed, her face tired.

"The syringe." 

She got up slowly from the bed, the blanket falling away from her grasp. She pulled a robe on and approached me, "Why do you want to know?" She asked, her eyes downcast, her voice wavering.

"That's not important," I told her, "What's important is that you tell me."

She looked at me, than did something I did not expect. She flipped me off. What the hell? She pulled her hand out of her robe pocket. Before I could do anything she kneed me in the groin and sprayed mace in my face.

I fell to the ground in pain. She stood over me, a smile reaching her features. I lay on the floor. How the hell did this happen? I thought. I tried to stand up, but she kicked in the ribs. Before she could take another kick, Kon decided to join in the fray. He barreled her down, having launched himself in a flying leap. They fell on the floor in a mess of arms of legs, Kon having soon pinned her down.

I picked myself up, brushing my ribs, and feeling the bruise developing there. This was going to be long night, "Can you please just answer the question?" I asked, crouching next her, were she tried to wriggle from Kon's grasp, but not able to escape. 

I was about to say something when Kon spoke.

"Come on, girl, just answer the question and then we can go, it's that simple." He said, trying to placate her.

She spit in his face. He reeled back in shock, wiping the spittle from his face. "Eww!!!"

She jumped up form the ground, backing against the window, "You two have no right to be here. Get out!" She pointed to the open window, "I will call the police."

"And what will you tell them, a flying boy and a teenager dressed in green tights assaulted you in your bedroom?" I stepped closer to her, "What will you tell them, that they came because we saw you buy illegal drugs on the side of Langley and West?" I saw her eyes go wide, and her face red.

I took another step closer, "So, will you tell us what we want to know?" She looked at me, her head titled to the side, looking at me curiously, like a scientist with a lab rat. She leaned in to me, smiling.

"No."

"What!?!" Kon exclaimed, in surprise.

"Just as you said," she answered, "Who will believe a flying boy and a kid green tights prancing into the police office telling them that a girl is involved with drugs." She smiled and pointed to the window, "Now get out, or I will call Bludhaven's finest."

I tipped my head, smiling back at her, "Have a nice wait." I slipped through the window silently, before she could turn back around.

"Damn, I wish I knew how to do that." I could hear Kon sigh, still in the room. I heard the sound of skin against cloth as Kon came tumbling out, "Ow, stop it! I'm going already, alright!!!"

He floated beside me as I clung to the side of the building, 

"You sure know how to pick them, don't you?" Kon complained as he rubbed his face were his TTK field couldn't come up in time to stop the girl's slap.

I sighed, "Come on." I sent out a line across to the other building, "We have to meet someone."

Soon we were soaring above Bludhaven once more. Police sirens and gun cracks filed midnight Bludhaven's air. There was nothing I could do about that, it had taken me sometime to reach that conclusion. All of Bludhaven was like this at night; I had to learn how to pick my fights.

I didn't consider it at first, but when Superboy stopped in mid-air, looking below at the violence and chaos that gripped Bludhaven at night, it may have been some sort of a culture shock. Coming from Metropolis were the buildings were new and the villains were highbrow, to be a witness to the cruelty of one human to the other was probably shocking. He looked at me, his eyes wide, "Is this the world you live in?"

I stopped on the nearest rooftop and looked back at him. "It's different."

Superboy floated in front of me, his head tilted to the side, "Was Gotham worse?" he asked,   
"You know, before the quake."

It took me a while to consider that question. I mean, come on, Gotham wasn't the prettiest of places, and it had its share of dark villains. Arguments could be posed for both sides. But I shook my head, "No, Gotham at least had people who cared for what was going on, here," I swept my hand across the cityscape, "I haven't been here long enough to find something like that."

Superboy nodded, as if he understood, but I knew he didn't. He would, in time, figure out the Batman family, just as Superman had, but for now he would just have an inkling of what we were.

I smiled, breaking the dark mood, "Come on, you have some one to meet." I shot out a line and we flew across Bludhaven.

I contacted Babs, hoping she was there and not 'occupied'. Luckily she was free, I could hear her typing away on her computer as the com-link opened between us, "Oracle," I started, hoping she would notice that I had used her JLA name rather than her real name. 

I could hear her mind click with recognition, her voice was slightly more adult than usual as she answered, "I'm right here Robin, so you have a visitor?" She had got the meaning in the name, and I smiled slightly to myself.

"I have Superboy with me and we need a clue as where to go on with the syringe deal."

"Hold on, I've been following a lead with our buddy Vincent. It seems that other than his close ties with Blockbuster, he has some very close ties with a dealer on the North-side of Bludhaven, in the Market District. Hold on, let me get the address."

The computers whirred in the background as Oracle got to work, "Here it is, go to North on Washington and head to the old Dunc-Tec warehouse off of Washington and Neese." The typing stopped, "Oh and Robin?"

"What?"

"Could you stop by Save Mart and pick up some plastic-"

Mouth dropped open in shock, "WHAT?!?"

"-bags. What were **you** thinking boy-wonder?" I heard Dick in the background laughing his head off. I shook my head in partial disgust and amusement,

"Fine, which ones do you want, the small or extra small?" I could hear Dick protest in the background.

"Alright boy wonder, get a move on it. The guys name is Shawn Bertillini, he is about as tall as Bats and has black hair," My watch beeped and a picture of the guy appeared on the small screen. "He is a direct line from Blockbuster to the inner city. He heads the drug ring that is pretty much responsible for all the kids that get high in the inner city. If you need anything else you know where to find me."

"Yeah, right under the covers-"

"**Get going** boy wonder!" The line clicked off. I smiled again and turned to Kon.

He was looking at me in shock, "Mystery boy jokes?!" He made a fake gagging sound, as if it was complete surprise.

"Come on, we gotta get moving." I explained where we were headed and we took off.

Superboy and I landed in a dark alley, behind the old warehouse. Superboy had landed feather light behind me and I had been able to touch down just as softly. Superboy was looking around the alley, his eyes taking in the grittiness and the harshness of the place.

His face was scrunched with the smell and I soon realized why. A dumpster in the far corner had probably been there since the place shut down, which had been about 30 years ago. It stunk, and badly. I looked around.

I approached the dumpster looking inside. I almost stepped quickly away when I saw what was inside.

Shawn Bertillini lay dead, curled in a fetal position, shotgun wound to the head. I turned away, the back of my hand covering my nose. Sometimes I hated this place, I hated this job, I hated this suit. People are killed, it's not news to me, hell, two people fell to their deaths before my eyes. But it was still a shock to see it up close.

Superboy snuck a peek before I could stop him. 

"Damn." He turned to me, slightly deflated, "Someone got here before us."

I nodded silently. I looked around, looking for clues. On further inspection of the body, I noticed skin under the fingernails. I pulled out a scalpel and a tiny plastic bag. Opening it slightly, I scraped some of the tissue in the bag than snapped it shut. I stuck the bag in my belt and continued on with the examination. Glass littered his coat; a piece of hair was glued to his coat with blood. It was blonde, Shawn had black hair. I dropped that into another bag and went on. I checked his pockets for contents. Meanwhile, Superboy had turned away in disgust, unable to handle the fact that I could have the stomach to do this.

I didn't. But I was so desensitized by now that it wasn't that different from watching TV. I searched his pants pocket. In the right pocket I found several rolls of bills and a wrapper of some gum. But in the left pocket I found a black diskette. I pocketed this. Further search revealed nothing except for a match fold with a number on the inside, 555-3849. I pocketed this too.

I looked up. My suspicions were confirmed. What once had been a glass window was shattered from where the body, either dead or alive, had pushed out.

Nothing left to look for on the body and I turned away. Superboy still stood there, his face blank, either not wanting to consider that I had just touched a dead man, or not willing to consider that it didn't seem to faze me. It did faze me, and while I may be cool now, I would be waking up sweaty in the sheets for some days to come.

"Come on, lets go look in the warehouse." He finally seemed to snap out of it and nodded his head mutely. I shot up a line above me. As I landed, I saw the warehouse had been trashed, what once had been a meth lab now lay in pieces across the second story floor.

Superboy looked around with renewed interest, "Robin," He turned to me, pointing to the overturn desk in the far corner, "Is that what I think it is?" 

On the floor lay a syringe. It was empty and the glass was shattered. I picked it up delicately. The drop of pink substance was dried on the tip of the glistening needle. I smiled at him, "Exactly."

I broke the needle off and placed it in another bag. I tucked it firmly into another pocket and set to work combing the desk. On the floor lay papers scattered about during what I believed was the fight between Shawn and his attacker. They listed date and times of several major transactions. There were no names I could recognize, but snapped a picture of them anyway with a little camera I held in my utility belt. I continued to search through the papers along with Kon.

He tapped me on the shoulder after a minute, "Does this look familiar?" He handed me a piece of paper, pointing to a name underlined with red ink. Sarah Goldberg.

I turned to Kon, "Very familiar, where did you find this?"

"I found it wedged in this binder." He handed me a black binder, half of the cover had been torn and inside hundreds of pages or papers were hanging haphazardly from the three rings. I scanned the first few pages for anything I recognized. I saw a few local Bludhaven cops and the occasional perp I had sent to jail in the past months. But other than that is was nothing important. 

"Nothing else?" he asked. I shook my head and got back to my feet. I looked around the room once more. Nothing else was interesting enough to perk my attention. I motioned for Kon to follow me but he was gone.

"Superboy?" I called out. His name echoed off the walls.

"Down here!" He answered from below me; I followed his voice to a big gaping hole in the ground. Superboy looked up at me from below, waving his hand, "Come on down, the place is clear."

I jumped down, landing on my feet and tucking in for a roll. I came to a stop and looked around. This time the room was cast in an eerie glow.

"Now this is interesting." 

"Unh..unh.. UNH!!!" In the middle of the room, sitting pretty, was Albert McAllen. Albert McAllen was a businesses man, a CEO for a Fortune 500 company. He was one of the richest men in Bludhaven, one of the very few successful companies that got out of the asbestos businesses before it crashed. 

And he was sitting, duct-taped to a chair, a dirty gag in his mouth and his pants around his ankles. Not a pretty sight. I remembered that Nightwing had found some ties that connected him with a local mob. He struggled in his bonds some more, making frantic noises. I could see Kon trying desperately not to laugh. His eyes were watering as he pointed to the man, "Would you like to do the honors?"

I reached out and ripped the duck tape off his mouth.

"HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!!!!"

Both Kon and I took a step back.

Albert looked at us, his face read, sweat beaded on his brow, "UNTIE ME THIS INSTANT!!!!" 

"Hold on, hold on." Superboy reached for the duct tape wrapping Mr. McAllen's arms. He yanked hard, tearing off the tape.

"EEEOWW!!!" 

We both flinched. McAllen sat rubbing his wrists painfully, "Didn't you hear me the first time?" he complained.

I approached him slowly, not wanting to startle him, "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think? I WANT to be here?" He stood up, brushing himself off, and straightening his suit,"I dunno, some freak grabbed me on the street as I was walking out of McLaughlin and Dixon's law office, and some guy dressed in all black grabs me, stuffs me in his car, whacks me upside the head, and I wake up taped to this god-awful chair."

Superboy came up to him, "Did this man tell you anything, and do you know how he looks like? Anything?" 

McAllen nodded, his face scrunched up, thinking, "Yeah, the guy had along scar running from his cheek to just under his shirt collar and he had black hair, but I don't know the color of his eyes, cause frankly, I wasn't looking." 

That hit a chord. I flashed back to the scene in the ally, a few hours before. I hadn't really been paying attention at the time, but I did remember the scar. I smiled slightly to myself, we had our connection between the girl, Sarah, and whoever had snatched McAllen. I approached him, "Do you have any idea why he would have taken you?"

McAllen shook his head, but that stopped, "Hey, the scar, I remember a guy with a scar who was a bodyguard for one of my….uh….associates , Daniel Giovanni," he paused, "Yeah, that's all I remember. Sorry." He grinned, "So can you give me a ride?"

Kon quickly rose up to the challenge, turning to me, "I can do it."

"Fine, drop me off at the Tri-Tech Corp down on Downly and Fifth."

Kon looked unsure, "Uh Rob, a little help." He whispered.

I sighed, I motioned for Kon to lean in, "Drop him off at the nearest Mc Donald's, than fly right back, I'm timing you."

Kon nodded, hoisted McAllen over his shoulder and flew out of the broken window.

I looked around the warehouse. Scattered across the floor were files and papers. I kneeled beside one unorganized pile, sifting through the papers. They were business and money transactions, probably between the dealer and provider. I found some papers detailing a transfer of an unknown substance from a Duncan Luder, to the late Shawn Bertillini. The files revealed that this buying and selling had been going on for quite some time. I shifted through the papers some more. 

Something creaked behind me. I spun quickly around, trying to pin point the noise. My visor was on night-mode and I could pick up the warehouse in varying shades of green. A figure was crouched behind a box, sifting through something. Who ever it was they must have come in through the proverbial front door. I could spot the streak of light seeping in through the open door. He probably didn't hear me when he came in. I snuck closer to the figure, whispering under my breath, "Hey Kon, is that you?" If it was the kid, he would pick my voice up at this level. No response.

The figure kept sifting through the papers. I moved closer. 

Who ever it was, it wasn't Kon. I grabbed the shoulder and spun him around.

I froze for a second trying to place the face in the dark.

Oh no, I realized, here we go again.

"LET GO OF ME!" She shouted and made a motion to knee me in the groin. Again. This time I was ready and in two seconds flat I had grabbed her leg, flipped her on her back and pinned her down.

Sarah Goldberg was not going to be moving anytime soon.

"So, we meet again." 

She glared at me, her mouth clamped tight, refusing to speak. She clasped to her chest a fistful of papers, her knuckles turning white with the strain of holding them so tight. 

"Look, Ms. Goldberg, I don't want to hurt you-"

Her eyes flared, "Then get OFF of me you stupid pr-"

I smiled, wagging my finger, "Mind your language young lady. Now if you tell me what I need to know-"

"Get up." I felt the muzzle of a gun press against my scalp. Hard. I rose slowly, my hands above my head.

I resisted the urge to turn around and face my assailant, as the gun pressed harder into my skull.

Sarah scrambled back, still grasping the papers. She pressed against the wall, her eyes open in fear and horror.

"Sarah, hand me the papers then come with me." The voice said. I judged the man to be between 40-50, yet he was amazingly strong, his arm wrapped around my arms.

She shook her head, backing slowly away.

The gun pressed harder, and I could feel blood seep down my collar, "Get over here Sarah, and I wont hurt him."

She shook her head.

The gun was pushing even harder and it took all my strength not to cry out. It felt as if my skull was to crack in two.

She stood frozen.

"Sarah. Get over here now." His voice took a dangerous tone and the pressure was immense. Where was Kon?

She didn't move.

The gun pressed harder, and my head fell forward from the pressure. I felt blood dribble down my forehead and drip on the cement.

Here eyes widened, following the drop of blood as it splashed against the cement. She moved. She took small steps and with each step the pressure lessened.

I could straighten my head as she came closer, and resisted the urge to wipe the blood that was on my forehead. Where was Kon?

Batman had taught me that the simplest thing to do when a gun was at your head was duck and get the hell out of the way, fast. But I had to wait for the right moment. I waited until Sarah was within ten feet in front of me when I acted.

I let my body go slack and dropped to the floor. I kicked out my right leg and felt it connect with the man behind me. At the same time I reached into my belt and pulled out a smoke pellet, releasing the harmless gas into the air. I kept my bearings and faintly saw the figure of Sarah as I tackled it hoping to grab her and run.

But I landed against the cement, hard. Sarah was gone.

The smoke had cleared, and I saw Sarah.

But our assailant was there too. With his arm wrapped around Sarah's throat and a gun pointed to me, I realized I was screwed. Because, standing before was Batman's mentor, and if this was Bruce's teacher, and Bruce taught me, then it was quite simple to figure out the outcome of this fight. I was screwed, because standing before me was none other then Cain.

Manohmanohmanohmanohmanohman….

I just got myself in deeeeeep shit here.

I stood still. Cain held the gun up at eye level pointing it at my head. Though, in the presence of Cain, the gun was the least of my problems. Cain's arm was wrapped around Sarah's throat, and she gagged in the effort to breath. But air didn't come readily, and she was slowly turning blue. Cain was killing her.

He didn't smile. He wouldn't. Cain wasn't the sort of man that killed for fun, rather he killed out of necessity, since killing was his living, his only source of money, he was very, very good at what he did. 

This scared me. This guy had gone after Gordon once, and we still hadn't been able to stop him, me and the Bat family combined. In the end, his daughter, the new Batgirl, had been able to stop him the only way possible: stop his cash flow. This guy killed purely for money. And I knew I couldn't stop him unless I knew where the cash flow was coming from.

He motioned with the gun to turn around, "Move." He said.

I slowly turned around, completely facing him.

"Hands behind your head, where I can seem them." 

I placed my hands on my head. 

Where the hell was Kon? He was gone for ten minutes now. Too long.

The gun was still trained on me, and I could do nothing but stand here, watching Sarah turn blue.

Before I could even formulate a plan of action, Cain reached into his costume's sleeve pouch, on his gun arm with the arm wrapped around Sarah's neck. He yanked out a small syringe.

It had pink liquid.

Uh oh.

Before I could move, before I could take another breath, he stabbed Sarah with the needle on her exposed neck, and emptied the syringe. By that time, I had taken my first step.

By the time I had taken my second step, Cain had dropped Sarah's body, and dropped the gun.

By the time I had taken my third step, he was halfway out the warehouse door.

By the time I had reached the Sarah's body, he was gone.

All in the few seconds it took me to react, and take action.

I knelt by her body, checking her wrist for a pulse. Was the version of the Clench that was in the syringe fast acting? Did it take as long when I was infected? I didn't know.

She sat up.

I stepped back, to give her room, but that was my first mistake. She kicked me back, and in shock of her actions, I fell to the ground. She scrambled away from me.

My second mistake was to let her get to the gun before I realized what was happening.

I was kind of happy Kon wasn't here to witness my utter lack of control over the situation.

I was having a very bad night.

She held the gun up to my face. It was obvious she was disoriented, no knowing whether I was an enemy or on her side. She stood a few feet away from me, her hair falling over her face. She was panting, trying to breathe as controlled as possible without passing out.

Her neck started to bleed.

She wiped it with the back of her right hand, her eyes never coming off of me.

"What the HELL is going on here?" She whispered, her voice low and scratchy.

"What the HELL did he stick in me?" She was screaming now, tears running down her face.

She was bawling now, yet her gun arm didn't waver, and her eyes never came off of mine.

She was scared. Her forehead began to sweat and the gun wavered.

I took a step closer.

The gun shot back up.

I stopped.

"DON'T MOVE!" She screamed.

I didn't.

Where the hell was Kon?

Sarah took a step closer to me, and knelt down to pick up the papers at her feet that had scattered. The gun was still trained on me.

That's when the clench took hold.

It took me a split second to realize that Sarah had lost control of her actions. Her arm had stiffened just slightly, and the veins in her arm began to bulge.

It took me the last half of the second to duck as a bullet whistled past my ear.

I dropped to the ground and tackled Sarah to the ground.

The gun slid into the corner and Sarah lay convulsing on the floor.

The clench was in control.

I supported her head as her body shook against the cement. Her teeth were chattering and the noise echoed through the warehouse.

Kon arrived.

He floated through a broken window and landed by my side.

He had a smile on his face, a cocky grin, telling me that most likely the reason for his late arrival was a girl. 

I wanted to shout at him.

But this wasn't the time, or the place.

His smile fell as he saw Sarah's convulsing body.

"What happened?" His voice was soft, genuinely concerned.

"I'll tell you later, the most important thing to do is get her someplace safe."

"A hospital?"

I shook my head, "No." The convulsions stopped. Sarah was unconscious.

"Why not?"

"She might be contagious, we can't be sure, even if Oracle said she wouldn't be. And I doubt they have an antidote." I hefted the body in my arms.

"What does she have?"

"The clench."

I fumbled for an oxygen mask, and handed it to Kon.

"Put this on." He took it, and pulled it over his face.

Through the mask he mumbled, "What about you?"

I shook my head, "I only have one, and luckily I'm immune." I made sure that Sarah was breathing then I handed her to Kon.

He looked at the body, as if not comprehending what was going on, then looked at me for an answer.

"Can you follow me?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Good. Let's get moving."

I shot out a line through a broken window, and soon the warehouse was empty again. I certainly didn't want to come back.

I kept shooting lines, hopping from building to building, and soon I landed on derelict apartment building on the west side of inner city Bludhaven. No where close to my destination, but close to what was going to take us there.

Dick's car.

Superboy floated down to the roof where I waited, and looked around.

"How is this going to help?" 

I was silent, and pulled out a remote control from my belt. With a single press of a button, the car's lights turned on, and emitted a quite beep from the alley below.

"Come on." I jumped from the roof and tucked and rolled beside the car.

He floated down, carrying the body. He placed the body in the back seat of Dick's corvette, and turned to me.

"Nice car."

"Thanks." I held up a blindfold and smiled ruefully, "Sorry, but can't let you see where were goin'."

He shook his head, "Do I have too?" 

I nodded.

"But it's so demeaning."

I shrugged.

"I wont tell anyone."

I just looked at him.

"Come on, I promise."

I held out the blindfold.

He sighed in futility, and took the blindfold, "You owe me bat-boy."

Sitting in the passenger seat he slipped on the blindfold and then turned his head towards where I was sitting, "This sucks."

I smiled, to myself, since Kon couldn't see, "Buckle up." I shifted the car from park and pulled into the main street.

"This blindfold itches."

I sighed; it was going to be a long night.

We pulled up to the warehouse by the docks were Dick kept his stuff. It was early dawn, and the sun was not yet up. I pulled into the garage, and when I made sure that the warehouse was empty of anything relating to my alter ego, I pulled off the blind fold. Dick was gone, back in Gotham, how he got there, I still haven't figured out, I think Wally had something to do with his quick location change.

Kon whistled as he saw the rotating rack of car covers in the dark recesses of the warehouse. 

"Nice set-up you have here." He said as he surveyed the garage, "Really nice."

I ignored him as I gingerly lifted Sarah's limp body from the car and unto a small little bed Dick kept for emergencies. I slipped in a needle for the IV drip and began to rummage through the medicine cabinet that Dick kept well stocked.

I could feel that Kon was about to touch something.

"Don't touch that." I called out.

I could hear Kon withdrawing his hand quickly, "How did you do that?"

I didn't answer, as I found what I was looking for. It was a type of opiate, that helped slow down the Clench. Superboy looked over my shoulder, to see what I was doing.

"What's that?" he asked, as I pulled out 

"An opiate." I replied as I slipped the needle into the IV, releasing the drug into the drip.

Superboy's eyebrow rose, "You're giving her drugs?" He looked at the girl skeptically, who was convulsing, although still unconscious, then back at me, "I think that's the last thing she needs."

I pulled the blanket from a cabinet and pulled it over her body, "It helps depress the Clench's effects, until we get a cure."

"What IS the Clench? You keep talking about it, yet I have know idea what it is."

I sighed continuing my search in the cabinet for some straps, "Back about a year ago, Gotham was closed off because a spread of a disease. It was a bacteria that secreted a chemical. The bacteria itself was not harmful, but the protein it secreted prevented the reabsorbtion of a certain chemical, a neurotransmitter."

"But you talked about having an immunity to it, what's with that?"

"I caught it when it first started spreading."

Kon looked at Sarah's convulsing form on the bed nearby, "You mean, you went through that?"

I nodded, and found the straps, "Anyway, my body built a tolerance to it, much like a person builds tolerance for certain drugs, and the bacteria are killed once they enter my blood stream. I'm fine."

I wrapped a strap around one of her wrists, and continued my explanation:

"The Clench worked on a simple principle. The body works in one simple way: cause and effect. The only way muscles are activated is if the impulse they receive from the sensory neuron is able to cross the synaptic cleft and reach the muscle fibers. This jumping of the signal is provided by ACH: actylcoline, a neurotransmitter. With the Clench, the chemical prevents ACH from being reabsorbed into the neuron, thus making the muscle fire continuously.This reaction causes the muscles to constantly twitch, and the victim to convulse." I shrugged, "The person basically dies from over-exertion and finally, heart failure."

I tightened a strap on her other wrist, and began work on the girl's leg,

"With an opiate, ACH is reabsorbed by the neuron, and the neurons stop firing, thus preventing or decreasing the rate in which the muscles spasm."

I tightened the last strap on the girl's left leg.

"Simple."

Kon laughed, and shook his head, "Only you, boy wonder, would find such an explanation as simple."

Sarah's convulsions slowed, until they stopped completely. 

I wiped my hands on my cloak, although they weren't sweaty. It was nervous reaction. I keyed Oracle's line on Dick's computer, "Oracle, I have Superboy with me, and a problem."

Babs got the picture, and instead of her usual cheerful face appearing on the screen, her avatar appeared.

"What is it Robin?" The synthesized voiced intoned.

I pointed to Sarah's body, knowing full well that Oracle could see it, "She was injected with the liquid from the syringe. The clench has already taken effect."

There was no answer for a few moments, and I could tell that Babs was probably furiously typing on the computer, "Did you give her opiates?" 

I nodded, "Yes, plus a cocktail of tranquilizers and sedatives, it should keep her stable for now."

The avatar nodded, "Good, make sure the IV drip isn't to high though, we don't want her body to flatline from the amount of tranquilizers in her bloodstream."

The screen was silent again, but beside the avatar's window on the computer, a formula popped up, along with a number of addresses, "While you were away, I had analyzed the substance and found that it could be countered with a quicker, fast acting cure from the regular Clench."

I nodded, "I thought so, but Nightwing doesn't keep some here."

Oracle's avatar didn't say anything, then the synthesized voice came on again, "I made some over here, but I don't know how I can get it to you."

"How long do we have until it's to late?"

"Four hours, maybe five if you're lucky."

"It takes longer to get there then the time we have." I noticed. This was a problem. I couldn't get to Bab's and back without this kid dying. I turned to Kon who had made himself comfortable on the couch and was twiddling his thumbs. Could I send him? I shook my head, no. I can't risk my Babs' identity, or my own.

Oracle seemed to reach the same conclusion, "I can have it waiting besides the clock tower in Gotham square with Nightwing if Superboy can get over there."

Kon hopped up from the couch, "Yeah, sure, I can do that."

I nodded, "That would work, he'll head over in a minute." Before I clicked off, I whispered, "Thanks."

For a moment it looked like the static avatar smiled. But it was probably my imagination, and before it blinked off I heard in my ear piece, "No problem boy wonder."

I turned to Kon, "Okay, how fast will it take you to get to Gotham Square's clock tower and back?"

He smiled, "Hey, you're talking to Superboy here, I can be back in less then a minute."

I shook my head, "It was a block to McDonalds and it took you ten minutes, Kon, listen to me, head back immediately, this is a life and death situation, okay?"

He nodded, understanding what I was saying. For as dense as Kon could be sometimes, he did understand responsibility. 

"Okay, let me drive you to were you can go, I still can't let you figure out were this place is."

Kon grimaced, "Anything but the blindfold."

"Sorry, that's the way it is."

"This is two times now that you owe me."

He tied it around his head.

"I didn't tell you to join me."

"Well excuse me!" He cried indignantly, looking kinda funny because he wasn't facing me head on. It looked like he was talking to the wall.

"Come on, let's get moving."

We drove out of the ware-house. Soon we were about three blocks away, and a few right and left turns, I took of the blindfold.

"Get going Kon. Come back here, and I'll meet you."

He flew out into the sky, I watched him until he was out of eye sight.

I sat in the car waiting. Maybe I could get something done. I keyed Oracle's line, "Babs?" I whispered.

"What is it boy wonder?" Her voice came on the line. I could imagine her smiling.

"What can you tell me on Sarah Goldberg. I mean everything, there is something wierd going on here."

The line was silent for a moment, nothing but a little static. Oracles voice came on the line, "Well, I think the main thingthat pops up is, well, her parents are dead."

Dead. I sighed, that would explain why no one noticed the ruckus when we first visited her. No one was there to hear us.

"Who was the killer?"

"Get this, Shawn Bertillini. Theguy who owned the ware-house."

I froze. Shawn Bertillini was dead, gun shot wound through the eyes. The person who got there first had killed him. The question I hadn't asked was why, who had the motive to off Bertillini?

The only name that was popping up was Sarah's. 

"Do you know why Shawn killed her parents?" 

"No, the police report doesn't say, there's nothing in my files to suggest a connection."

"What else?"

"I found a possible company that's a front for this stuff."

"What was the company's name?"

"Dunlap Shipping. Sound familiar?"

"Should it?"

"It's one of the main shipping companies that act as a front for all the drugs that ship into Bludhaven and Gotham."

"Whose behind it?"

"Blockbuster."

Shit. I just got myself into something deep here. Blockbuster? That was Dick's territory, not mine. Not mine at all, "Great, just great."

"There's more."

"More? I don't need more. I have the Clench, a drug ring, and a dying girl, what more do I need?!?"

"Poor baby. Anyway, I checked up on what Blockbuster had been doing lately, and get this, he's closing a deal with a company in Germany concerning munitions and weapons. This chemical has been in development since the clench, even before hand, Blockbuster has been pulling strings to get a shipment."

"What would Blockbuster want with modified clench? It's obvious to whoever is killed by it how he died."

"Think about it, it's the perfect murder weapon, there is no evidence of the clench after death, and even if the authorities figure out it was the clench, a quarantine would immediately be placed and any evidence of the killer consequently destroyed."

"It still doesn't make sense, why go to all that trouble of producing a biological weapon when there are so many at his disposable for far cheaper prices. It doesn't make any sense."

"I don't know what to tell you boy wonder, but that's what the information shows."

I felt a breeze. I looked up, it was Kon, he was back. He tipped his head, "I'm on time."

"Good, let's get back." I held up the blindfold.

"Aw no…"

We drove back to Dick's 'lair'.

The girl hadn't moved, and she didn't seem to be awake. Her forehead was dotted with sweat and her eyes clenched shut in pain. But she wasn't awake.

That was good.

I took the kit that Babs had prepared from Kon. The small black case held various first aid tools, but stuffed in the very bottom, surrounded by an ice pack was a single syringe, empty, and a tiny bottle with a rubber stopper. Inside was clear fluid that looked faintly yellow under the light.

I stuck the syringe into the stopper, drawing up the liquid to the specified measurements. I slipped the syringe into the IV drip, letting it empty into the plastic tubing going into the girl's body.

All we had to do was wait.

Kon fidgeted, getting antsy, "So what happens now?"

I shrugged, "We wait. It takes an hour or two for it to work, maybe even longer."

"So we just sit here?"

"Yup."

"Oh. What fun."

I had an idea, "Kon, remember when we got to the warehouse? Shawn's body was found in the dumpster, right?"

"Yes…" He answered unsurely, not really understanding what I was getting at.

"Shawn was a heavy man, a person to have dumped had to have been strong, right?"

"Yes…"

"But why was Shawn killed in the first place?" I prompted.

"I dunno…But I have a feeling you're going to tell me."

"While you were gone I spoke with Oracle, who told me that Sarah's parent's were killed by Shawn."

"So?"

"Kon, you are not this dense." I sighed, "Look, I have a feeling that whoever killed Shawn was responsible for Shawn killing that girl's parents."

Kon shook his head, "No, I'm not that dense." He pointed to the girl, "I think she's responsible for Shawn's death."

"No, she didn't kill him, she couldn't have killed him." I began to tick of his fingers, "For one thing, she is too small to be able to push Shawn out of that window," I ticked off another finger, "We found a blonde hair on Shawn's clothes, not black, like the girl's."

Kon made a disbelieving noise, " I may be from Metropolis, but I can see what's happening." He pointed to the girl, "She killed Shawn. The blonde hair is just a fluke, and the body could have fallen against the window from the force of the shot of a gun."

"I don't believe she would do that, she would just be setting herself up."

"Rob, it's not that hard to figure it out."

"Well, we'll figure that out later, first, lets just hope she pulls through."

Superboy laughed, "Sometimes, boy wonder, you're more optimistic then me."

I grinned, "Savor those moments while they last."

The EKG emitted a tone. The girl was awake.

Both Kon and I rushed to the side of the bed.

Black eyes stared up at the ceiling, searching. They turned to me, trying to figure out what was going on.

She probably recognized the green mask, because she began to scream. It was piercing, a mix between fear and pain. But the muscle spasms had slowed.

I made quieting noises, trying to be reassuring. 

She stopped, her eyes open, staring, "Why am I strapped down?" She yanked at her bonds, pulling at the straps on her arms, "Let me go."

"Hold on, let me explain-"

"No, Let me go!" Her voice was rasp, strained. Kon looked at me, wondering what I was going to do.

"Please, just hold on-"

"NO! LET ME GO!"

I loosened the straps, just enough to let her feel my intentions, "Look, I'm trying to help, let me explain."

She didn't answer, she didn't move, but I knew that she was listening.

"You were injected with a chemical that causes a physical reaction-"

Kon interrupted, "Don't listen to him, he talks to much," A smile flitted across the lips of the girl, "basically, these straps are prevent your fists from banging into your head. From what I understand, this stuff causes you to spasm."

I rolled my eyes, "I wasn't going to explain it in such 'graphic' terms."

The smile that I had noticed before was gone, but her voice was pleading, "Please, just take them off, I don't like them."

I nodded and released the straps. The spasms were now few and far between. She sat up, pulling up the sheet close to her chest, rubbing her wrists where the straps had bitten her skin. 

"Where am I?"

"You're in a safe place, that's all I can say."

She nodded, seeming to understand, "I'm leaving." She pushed away the sheet, and ripped off the IV, trying to stand up. She fell.

Kon reached out just in time, catching her. She sighed, leaning against him painfully,"I guess I'm not." Kon helped her back on the bed, and she looked at me again, "When can I leave?"

I shook my head, reattaching the IV, "Not any time soon, not until you tell me what's going on."

"I don't know what's going on, you probably know better then I." She glared at the wall, "I just want to go home."

"Back to an empty house?"

She skewered him with her eyes, "Shut-up, don't even begin to start with me."

"I'm not going to shut up until you tell me what I need to know."

"If I don't? If I don't tell you anything, will you go vigilante on my ass?" Her words carried a suggestion that was palpable in the room.

I didn't answer, I couldn't. I knew that Bruce would never forgive me for acting like him, for, as someone could put it, 'turning to the dark side.' But what was I supposed to do? "No, I'm not going to do that. But I'm going to keep you here until you talk."

Kon was looking atme, as if expecting me to act differently, he acted almost hurt. He motioned me over, to the corner, "What the hell do you think you're doing?" He whispered, "You can't expect for no one to notice," He looked back at the girl, "You are venturing in illegal territory, its bad enough that were beyond the law, but this is just pushing it."

I turned to him, my voice low, "I'm not going to hurt her, she has no one to go to anyway-"

"It's illegal."

"It's someone's life at stake."

Kon looked at me, finally realizing how far I would go to protect a life. His face was blank, but I could feel that he was making a decision.

"I understand, but I don't approve." He seemed as if he had chosen his course of action, "I'm going to go now, If you need my help, just yank the YJ communicator, but," He took another look at the girl, "I'm not going to get myself into this."

I nodded, "I understand, but I can't let you leave on your own."

"But you can't leave her by herself, and you can't take her out until the Clench is completely over."

"That poses a problem."

"Look, Rob, I know how much you care about this privacy thing, I tell you what," He said, "Open the skylight, I'll fly through with my eyes close and jet off in a random direction, I'll open my eyes when I'm far away." He looked at me, "Ok?"

There was nothing I could do, "Ok. I trust you."

He smiled, proud that I had given him my trust, "Don't worry Rob, I wont peek," he teased, but his voice took a more serious tone when he said, "Please rethink this, this isn't right, you just can't keep her here, against her will. It's illegal."

"We were never legal Kon."

He was silent, "I'll go now, Rob, if you need help, just call, ok?"

I nodded.

"Ok." He floated to the skylight, waving a goodbye, and zipped out.

I turned back to the girl, she was staring at me, her feet dangling over the edge, wondering what I was going to do next.

"I want to go home, I don't want to be here." Her voice was cold, wavering only when another spasm racked her body.

"I can't let you go until the disease is gone, and I wont let you go until you tell me what is going on."

She tilted her head, "Don't you get it? I can't tell you." Her voice had risen and she was poised at the edge of the bed, "If I tell you, or anyone else, consequences will occur!" her voice had risen in pitch, reaching the point at which frustrations met shouting, "I CAN'T TELL YOU!"

I shook my head, "Then you are not going anywhere."

"You can't do this."

"I can and I will. Already people have died for what you are trafficking and I'm not going to let more die just because you refuse to talk, I can't let them die."

She looked at me, disbelieving my words, "If I tell you, people will die!" 

I froze, "What are you talking about?"

"Why the hell do you think my parents are dead? Because they were involved with this? It was my fault, I spoke to the police, they got wind of it and my parents were killed, **murdered**." She pointed to herself, "Because of me, and my actions."

"They?"

She glared at me.

"This conversation is just between me and you, just tell me what's going on!"

She sighed, giving up, "I don't know. I really don't." She wrapped her arms around herself, as if it had suddenly got cold, "I'm not even in this too deep, but it must be something big if the little that I leaked required a reaction like that."

Her head fell into her hands, but her voice broke through, "I was coming back from a party. I dunno, I wasn't drunk, but I was stupid enough to go through Bludhaven at night." She paused, as if to gather her thoughts, "I reached Oak and Third, and the street light had gone out. I didn't see him."

I knew where this was headed, I had heard this a thousand times. I felt cold.

"He dragged me behind an old derelict building, he had a gun."

I didn't breathe.

"Nothing happened. I was able to push him off. I was able to pull away. But he was strong," She paused, "Strong, with a gun. I tried to wrestle it from him." She paused.

"It went off, didn't it?" I filled in for her.

She nodded slowly, "Right between the eyes." She looked at the ceiling, at the night sky, "There wasn't a lot of blood. Just on my hands, just enough to make them slick." She was rubbing her hands unconsciously, as if the blood still stained them. She looked at me, her eyes wet, glistening with tears, "I stumbled out from behind the building, dropping the gun in a nearby trash can."She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, "I ran home, crying. My parents didn't wake up as I slipped into the shower, didn't wake up as I rubbed my hands raw,"

A vision of blood spiraling down a drain, flashed in my head.

"I didn't sleep that night, or the next." She shifted on the bed, the memory painful.

"I went to school on Monday. My friends noticed something was wrong, but they didn't say anything." She rubbed her wrists, where the straps had been too tight, "I was heading home when a guy began to follow me."

"It was happening again?"

She shook her head, "No, he just wanted to talk." She looked back at me, "that was my first mistake. I listened." She pushed away from the bed, and I rushed to catch her if she fell, but she stood on her own, one hand grasping the IV stand for support, "I guess he had seen me….seen me…." She couldn't ring herself to say the words, _kill a man_. 

"What did he say?"

She took a step foreword, getting closer, "In exchange for his help in keeping this closed and out of sight, I would have to help him, to work for him." She took another step, "I agreed."

She stopped. She stopped talking, stopped moving. She just stopped.

"That was a year ago, and everything was going fine until a month ago, Shawn, that was his name, Shawn, asked me to do something I couldn't do." She shifted her feet, "I was told to bring a packet of tainted drugs to a local school dealer. I knew it was tainted, I knew it would kill someone, maybe even a few of my friends." She shook her head hard, as if trying to convince herself, "I refused, I shouted and argued and begged for him to let someone else to do it, just not me. I took a stand and I refused, I went home, with hopes of calling the whole thing off, preferring prosecution for the…night…then continuing his dirty work."

"But you didn't have a choice?"

"No. Next day, my parents were dead." She looked up at me, "I wanted to scream, to choke, to die." She glared at me, "You wouldn't understand how much I wanted to die. Now instead of just having that man's blood on my hands, I had that of my parents." She yanked the monitor cables that were wired to her head, allowing them to clatter against the ground, "I was falling, and it would only be sooner or later that I'd hit the ground." She sighed, a strand of black hair falling over her eyes.

"I can catch you."

She looked up at me, blank eyes on an equally blank face, "What if I don't want to be caught?"

I didn't answer, couldn't.

I knew how she felt, I knew how much she hurt and how much she wanted revenge.

"I wanted to get back at Shawn, for taking away my life." Her voice was above the whisper that she had started out with, "At that point, I wished the gun had hit me other than that man."

"A woman knocked on my door a two weeks ago." Her head fell, her black hair covering her face. A tear fell to the ground, gently splashing against the concrete floor.

"She told me that she had been monitoring my movements ever since I slipped up on a shipment those two weeks before. She said she had figured out my connection and felt she could help me if I helped her first." Sarah stared at the wall behind me. "I wanted to get out, I wanted to get out so badly that I would have done anything." She turned her back to me, her voice coming out muffled, "I agreed, she wanted a witness to testify against Shawn. I agreed, but first she needed evidence, I told her that I knew every name, every address, every contact,"

"How?"

She tapped her head, "Photographic memory. The next time that I went to Shawn's place, I grabbed a fistful of files, names, addresses, contacts; stuffed them in my coat, and ran to our meeting place." She reached for the IV tubing, ripping it out a second time, and letting it fall to the ground.

She grasped her hand, letting the blood stain her finger tips, "Shawn had sent a guy after me, to make sure I wasn't going off somewhere, giving info to someone," She wore a sardonic grin, "getting revenge." She threw the IV across the room, it hit the wall and fell with a crash, "He found out."

"What happened this time?"

"He sold spike heroin to a bunch of my friends." Another tear slipped from her eye, "Two of them died. That was two days ago."

"So what brought you to continue trafficking? Why did you pick up this stuff?" I held up the empty syringe.

"The woman told me to record my dealings, that this way she would peg Shawn for my parents' death and the death of the two students." Her hand closed in a fist, "I wanted that so badly. I wanted to hurt him so badly for what he had done to me." Her arm trembled from the amount of strength she was putting into clenching that fist, "I wanted him dead."

Kon was right, Shawn didn't die from anything else, the blonde hair had just been a fluke, the body had just fallen through the window by the force of a gun.

"After you stopped by, I decided to finish this. I was sick and tired of people telling me what to do, how to act, ordering me around." She grabbed her coat from where I had placed it on a nearby chair, "I drove to Shawn's office."

Oh no.

"I gave him the syringe. He emptied it in a tiny bottle, and gave it to another guy, Tom Barb, another trafficker, and told him to get it to Blockbuster." Her eyes had become dry, "I was alone with Shawn."

I knew what would happen next.

"I saw his gun strapped to his shoulder. It would be so easy just to grab it, point, shoot, and get rid of him. Just to screw the judicial system and serve justice myself, to give that bastard what he deserved, a quick shot to head." 

I could see the next scene in my mind.

"I leapt at him, grabbing at the holster, desperately pulling, forgetting completely of the women and her recorder, of the consequences that were sure to follow." She began rubbing her hands harder, faster, "I had him pinned, a gun to his temple. This time he was listening to me." 

I couldn't look her in the eyes, I couldn't see, couldn't stand to see the hate that was palpable in the room.

"I was two seconds from pulling the trigger but then the bastard opened his mouth. He told me that he had set out an assassin after me, that I knew too much, that I was screwing things up too much and that I had to be killed, offed, murdered."

"It was two seconds too long. He pushed me off, catching me in surprise." 

I noticed her hands had stopped, I noticed how there was no other movement from her, that she was solely concentrated on retelling her actions.

"I didn't wait for him to pull out another gun, to call somebody in, to take me out."

Kon was right.

"I shot him: straight through the eyes."

He was right.

"His body flew back, his head whipping from the force, and the body flew through the window."

I wanted to scream at her, to shake her and tell her what she did was wrong.

"I ran, my hands could not let go of the gun, could not let go. But this time my hands were not slick, were not stained with blood."

I wanted to throttle her, tell her she was wrong.

"But they should have been. They should have been stained."

Wrong.

"I was wrong."

Wrong.

"Killing Shawn didn't make me feel better, didn't make me feel good, didn't make me feel right. I was wrong."

Wrong.

"But I had to get that evidence, to break this ring of destruction and death, to stop it once and for all. I ran downstairs, I grabbed the files, and then you came back." She slipped her hand into her coat pocket, pulling out the rumpled papers, "I didn't kill for these." She let them fall to the floor, "I killed for them." She held out a family picture, taken a few years before by the looks of it.

There was the girl, Sarah, and her two parents. Smiling, happy, standing before the Gotham bridge, pointing to the twin towers of Wayne Corp. I had a similar picture before mom's death, before their trip.

It hit too close to home, and I had to avert my eyes, I had to look away.

"I wish you had let me die."

I spun around, glaring at her, "What you did was wrong, but one more death isn't going to make it right, it isn't going to help."

"Well then what do you want me to do? Go testify? Get more information? Start this all over again?" waving her arm, "Is that what you want?" She was shouting know, anger vibrating through her voice.

"You can't just allow this to drop, just because you don't want to act doesn't mean that justice can't be served!" I was shouting now, matching her pitch.

"I tried doing that, see where it got me! LOOK WHERE IT GOT ME!!!" She spun around, glaring at me, the tears gone, replaced with cold gray eyes, "I'm a threat to everyone, that guy is still after me, and I don't want anyone to die because of my stupid, idiotic, WRONG mistakes."

"You can fix them by naming all the names, contacts, and information that you know. I'll get the papers, I'll get the hard evidence, after that, you can go, go and do whatever you want. Just give me the information, lets end this."

She turned from my imploring eyes, "Let me go, I told you everything you wanted, you wanted to know what was going on and I told you. LET ME LEAVE."

"Do you want more people to die?"

"Let me leave."

"Is that what you want?"

"Let me leave."

"Tell me," I grabbed her shoulder and spun her to face me, "Is that what you want?"

"I want to leave."

"People will die."

"People will die both ways, let me leave."

"Please, Sarah, I'm asking you, just tell me. I don't want others to die, I just want to right a wrong. I just want to help you. Please," My voice lowered, just above a whisper, "I just want to help."

She didn't answer, completely silent, and looked at me, and as if she saw my intentions for the first time, as if she finally realized that all I wanted to do was save lives. And she nodded.

"Okay, Okay."

She turned to me, "On one condition."

"And that is?"

"That after this is all over, when you have gotten what you wanted, the information or whatever, I can leave, and you wont approach me ever again. Is that clear?"

"But, what if you have to testify?

She was silent, apparently she hadn't thought about that, "Fine, but after that just promise to leave me alone. Okay?"

I nodded, "Then it's agreed?"

She smiled grimly, "Then lets get this over with." She turned her head, scanning the room for the papers she dropped. She spotted them laying by her feet. She knelt down, spreading and straightening the papers against the cold concrete, "Look at this," She pointed to a name, and I knelt down beside her, looking at what she was pointing out, "this is company that acts as a side station for anything that is shipped in from Europe…" 

She began to speak.

An hour or two later, she stopped, finally tired, exhausted from trying to keep awake and from trying to remember. She collapsed onto the bunk, falling asleep before her head even touched the pillow. Everything that she gave me was on tape.

Myself, I was tired, having to try and digest all the information that she had revealed to me. It was daunting, to see exactly how deep this thing ran. It wasn't about this modified clench stuff at all. In fact this toxin wasn't the center of what was going on. 

Blockbuster had managed to link the world to Bludhaven, brought black markets to this city that never were available before. If it hadn't been so damn scary, I might have thought what he had been doing was ingenious. Except for one glaring error. He was sloppy in his control. From what I heard from Sarah, information was leaking out all over the place, but were over looked since he owned more then ¾ of the police force.The only reason that this was being investigate was probably because the woman was from out of town, therefore out of the direct influence of Blockbuster.

I was in deep shit here. I didn't want to become involved, but that was too late. I sighed, dropping the disc that had all the information on it into my utility belt. I stretched, placing my feet by the computer and letting out a big yawn. Man, was I tired, I just wanted to close my eyes and go to sleep.

Oracle's link chimed on.

"Wake up boy wonder, I have a follow up."

"Cain is off her back."

Oracle's voice showed no surprise, but I knew it had shocked her, "How did you guess?"

"Shawn was his cash source, now he's gone, and no one is going to pay him."

I could hear Oracle's smile over the line, though it was imperceptible in the synthetic voice of the computer. "Good going Boy wonder, Well Bats is impressed with how you've handled the situation, do you need any more help?"

"No, I think this is over, at least on my end, I don't have the facilities to deal with something this big."

"This big?"

"You wouldn't believe."

"Try me."

"I can't even begin to explain, here," I slipped the disk of everything Sarah had told me, into the computer, "Look at this."

The girl's voice drifted on the other side of the line, Oracle spoke, "What is this?"

"To show you just how big this is."

There was a pause, "I'll get back to you." The line closed, no good bye, nothing. 

I sighed, and pushed back from the table, letting the chair roll across the floor, to wherever. I covered my eyes with my hands, rubbing them, trying to stay awake. I had to think.

Drugs, weapons and munitions were being shipped into Bludhaven daily, but from what the girl had explained, there had been a huge increase the past two months. Why would there be an increase? Either the demand had risen or Blockbuster was up to something. From what she had shown me, Blockbuster was providing the nation with drugs. That was what had shocked me at first. Blockbuster had a tight grip on the drug industry. From the papers, Blockbuster, through at least six degrees, was connected to every major drug distributor in the country, including major, _legal_, corporations. The implications of that were enormous in itself. But something else was going on that I was missing.

I stretched again, releasing the tension in my muscles. I was focusing too much on the drugs, as was Sarah, I'm missing something that is staring at me straight in the face.

I looked over the papers again. The names and dates listed drug and munitions transactions.

_Munitions_.

I stood up as it suddenly hit me.

He's funding an army.

But how? And why? The money was obviously coming from the drug sales, the weapons from German and European manufactures. But there was something else. I stared at the paper that held the names those that had received the weapons. I scrolled through the names, and my eyes stopped when they came half way through the page: Joseph Bialy, or better known as the Bastard Bialy. A funny name for a dangerous man. He was the head of one of the most prominent militia's in the country. His name often appeared in FBI investigations, but as it was usual with these kind of people, he was never solidly connected to anything.

But now he was.

I flipped through the pages, and page after page, his name appeared on every one, sometimes more then once. 

Blockbuster was selling munitions to Bastard Bialy.

My head hurt, I was approaching something I really didn't want to get involved in. I'm never one to shy away from responsibility, but this was just something that was too big for a kid to handle.

I was about to key open the line to Oracle when her face popped up on the screen, "Robin, I found something that's even bigger-"

"I got it too." This time it wasn't the synthetic voice that answered, but of her real voice, "I'm going to take this off your hands, this is something more for Black Canary and Nightwing."

"So I can go to sleep now?" I yawned.

"Sleep tight red robin."

I smiled as the icon disappeared from the screen. I turned to the sleeping girl.

She wasn't sleeping anymore, she was propped up on her hand, looking at me, "Can I go now?"

I nodded, "You really helped a lot.

She ignored me as she rubbed her eyes, and stood up, stretching, "I don't care, just take me home."

I sighed, "Thank you anyways."

She continued to pack up, slipping on her sweater and grabbing her coat, "I'm ready." 

"But first this," I held up the blind fold, "Sorry, but there's no way around it."

She slipped into the car, and put on the blind fold, "Just get it over with."

Her insistence of not caring was getting annoying, I knew she didn't really feel that way, her eyes had shown relief when I told her that she could go, and she was defiantly happy that this was over. 

"Fine," I shifted the car into drive, "Let's go."

I stepped on the gas.

I knew where she lived, and when we were a few miles away from Dick's warehouse I told her she could take off the blindfold. She yanked it off and let it fall to the floor. She glared at me for a moment than averted her gaze to the cars that were passing by.

"You will be contacted in a week telling you when to appear in court, so be prepared to give a statement."

She nodded, almost imperceptibly, as if she was only partially paying attention to what I was saying.

"I don't have to tell you not to skip town, I think its obvious enough."

She nodded again.

"I don't think you are paying attention to me."

She nodded again, this time turning to me, a small smile on her face. She was still silent, she went back to looking out the window.

Oh, so she was human after all.

I stopped in front of her building, "Ok, I believe this is your place?" She nodded and slipped out of the car.

I just barely caught her whisper of thank you.

"Let me just walk you to your room."

She looked at me, indigent , "No, this is over, there is no need for that."

"I just want to make sure your safe."

"You said so yourself, Cain's off my back, I'm fine."

I looked at her, my eyes probing her own suspiciously, "I never told you that."

Her eyes widened with surprise, the kind that hid guilt, "Yes you did." She said it in a way that probably didn't sound convincing to herself either.

"No I didn't."

She didn't meet my gaze.

"How long were you awake?"

"Not that long, I just heard from then on."

Luckily I hadn't used any names or revealed anything important in the conversation with Babs.

"Fine, whatever, lets just get you in your room, we both want to get to sleep."

She nodded, probably realizing that it would just be easier to go along with it. 

She remained silent as she left, disappearing into the building. 

I sighed, frustrated, at least this night was over. I followed her in. 

She got into an elevator and I had to rush before the doors crushed me. I glared at her and she ignored my gaze. It was silent the way up, both of us staring as the numbers slowly scrolled up. I really didn't like this girl. She was moody, obnoxious, and just plain mean.

But I had to care for her, it was my job. 

She was obviously angry that I wanted to make sure she got home safely, she cast me a dirty look. If looks could kill…

Finally the elevator stopped, she pushed pass me, in a hurry to get to her apartment. I followed her, and she cast another angry look as she fumbled for her keys. Mumbling under her breath, she finally found it, pushing it in.

The door didn't unlock. She glared at me again ,as if it was my fault. I shrugged and waited.

"Don't you have a damsel to save or something?" She griped, as she fumbled with the keys again. The next one she tried didn't work either.

"Nope."

She slipped in the third key, and finally the door unlocked. She turned the handle, to go in, but I grabbed her hand.

"You don't know if someone is waiting for you, I'll go first."

She got angry, throwing her hands up, "Oh come on! This is ridiculous." She folded her arms, "Hurry up, I need to take a shower."

I shook my head in disgust, "I'm just trying to help." I twisted the knob.

"Really, so kidnapping me is considered help?" She spat back.

I rolled my eyes, not saying anything, you can't argue with a brat. 

I pushed open the door.

Peering in, the living room was dark, and empty. She pushed passed me, "See, everything is fine." She turned on the lights.

I stepped in behind her. Something was wrong. I smelled something, it tickled my memory. It was faint, something that you wouldn't notice unless you were paying attention. I tried to place the scent.

Shit. 

"I'm perfectly s-"

Gas.

An explosion ripped through the air.

I pulled her against me, falling back into the hallway.We flew against the wall from the explosion. I covered both her and me with the cape, allowing it to take the full blast of the flame that spewed from the door way

It was quiet, the only sound was the roaring of the flame from the now burning apartment.

She pushed away from me, screaming obscenities at the apartment. 

The door way was flaming were we were arguing before, and it was obvious that the apartment was destroyed. Whoever had wired it to go, had done his job. Only the apartment was gone, everything around it structurally sound. No unnecessary deaths like most amateurs.

It had to be only one person. Cain. He probably did it before going after Sarah, just as a secondary precaution, without knowing his cash flow had stopped. It would have hall been properly planned, so when the fire department would finally arrive, anything and anyone inside would be cooked to a crisp and the blame could be placed on an unfortunate gas leak.

Finally Sarah stopped screaming, resigning herself to just stare at the flames, muttering the occasional f- word as something else cracked inside. The neighbors had woken up and were milling in the hall, one of them had probably called the fire department because sirens could be heard in the distance.

I grabbed her arm, and dragged her into the nearby stair well. Once inside she yanked her arm out of my grasp. She was crying now, tears dropping on the concrete. Why was she crying? I asked her but she didn't answer right away, it was a few moments before she whispered something.

"All my pictures were in there." She wiped her face with her sleeve, drying the few drops that had remained on her face. She tried to compose herself once more. I lead her too the roof, and we sat there as she finished the last of her tears.

I suddenly realized the burst of emotion. All her pictures of her parents were probably there. It was final, Shawn had officially obliterated Sarah's past. I didn't know what to say. When my mother died, I still had the pictures, from the photo albums, to remained me how she looked like. I wouldn't know what I would do the day I forgot how my mother looked like.

"I'm sick of this," Sarah flatly stated, "You told me Cain, or whoever he is, was out of the picture," She pointed to the fire trucks that where now parked outside, "Obviously he isn't." She folded her arms, her wet eyes replaced with the ever present glare, "Now what the fuck am I supposed to do?"

Her casual use of the word made me wince, and I explained to her that, yes, Cain was indeed not bothering her anymore, and that all this was sort of a second resort for Cain, if the first run didn't work, and was set up before he knew Shawn was dead.

She shrugged, "I'm leaving," She pushed past me, "Call me." She smiled, a small cold smile. She disappeared in the stair well.

I was left alone on the roof.

It was over.

I let my eyes close, the water from the light drizzle, rolling down my face. 

***

# The Next Day

_***_

I had some how managed to slip into Dick's apartment, shuck my clothing, get into boxers and fall asleep, sprawled on the couch, the TV flickering in the background. I woke up, groggy, the sun piercing through my gunk filled eyes .

I rolled away from the light, falling to the floor. 

I really didn't want to get up, and my position between the coffee table and the couch was comfortable enough for me to doze off again. But when I woke up, a few minutes later, the cramp in my neck and back told me that was a big mistake.

I groaned, and rubbed my neck painfully as I slipped into the kitchen, grabbing the handle of the fridge as if it was the last element of civilizations, the key to the answer of the universe.

It swung opened, and my mouth, already salivating at the thought of food, dropped open. Dammit! Dick, the ever eligible bachelor had a can of open tomato sauce, and molding peanut butter. 

I grinned, grabbing the peanut butter, and a spoon. It's still good! I scooped out the mold, dropping it into the garbage. Sweet, sweet protein.

Making my way back to the living room, clad in only my socks and boxers I encountered something that I didn't expect.

Clancy.

She stood in the middle of the room, a smile of distaste and acceptance on her face, as if she expected Dick's apartment to be this way. Hey, how did she know how Dick's apartment was in the morning? 

Heh, heh.

I banished that thought, "Uh- Hello?" I grinned bashfully, my cheeks getting redder as I realized the exact state I was in.

She grinned good naturedly, "Ya' kinda cute." Her impish smile left me at ease, "Where's Dick-o?" Her Irish burgh lilting of her tongue, jolting between her Asian features. 

"He's out.. somewhere…cavorting with some one," I picked up a pair of underwear that lay sprawled across the floor, stuffing it into the couch cushions before she looked. She probably noticed, giving me a small half grin.

"Well, sweet-cheeks, tell him that I fixed the leak, and not to try and flush his socks again." She gave me another wink and left through the open door way.

I sighed, clearing up the mess that littered the living room floor.

"Hey short stuff!" Dick's TV came to life, the red-head known as Babs smiling good naturedly, she held up a newspaper article, and from what I could tell it was dated today, "I'm guessing this might have to do with the girl?" 

It showed the charred remains of what had once been the girl's apartment, I nodded, "Courtesy of Cain."

I pulled on a t-shirt and ambled into the kitchen, picking up my bowl of peanut butter. Coming back in I continued, "What did you find on Baily?" My question was smothered by a mouthful of peanut butter.

She scrunched her nose, but answered, "Well, Canary did her job, he's in custody, and the police," she made quotation marks with her hands, "Are supposedly taking care of it."

"You know they aren't going to do anything."

"But that's where I got it covered," Her grin grew wider, "I got Dad to take it under his precinct, and knowing him, he'll get this finished, the legal way."

I nodded, spooning another mound of peanut butter into my mouth, "What about the girl?" came out, "Whab aboh ah rl?"

Babs sighed again, "That's disgusting Tim," she moved on, "The insurance will cover the costs and repair the damage from the gas, but the state has been alerted to her status, and she'll be put in a foster home soon."

That was good news. That was very good news.

"Will she have to speak in court?"

Babs shook her head, "Probably not, I was able to authenticate," she did the quotation mark thing, "the documents that you got from her, and I got a contact to pick up the originals from the warehouse." She leaned in closer to the screen, "Which fell to the ground today, from supposed structural damage." She brushed a strand of hair from her eyes, "So were in the clear. Its over." She twiddled her fingers, "Get some good food red robin." 

I grinned, "But its full of protein!"

She shook her head, "Get some more sleep hot pants, get a LOT more sleep." The screen blacked out, and her features were gone from my screen.

That was it. It was over for good, and it felt damn good. Maybe I would give Kon a call,tell him the good news.

I shrugged, heading back to the couch, _Nah…_

_ _

***

Back on patrol again. I should still be resting up, but hey, I don't wear spandex for nothing. I sent out a line from Grayson's window, letting my body follow the momentum over the alleyway and onto the roof of the nearby building.

It felt good to fly again.

I slipped into the car that was hidden by a mock dumpster, and was soon back on the highway. The air was nice today, a cool breeze barely rustling the un-swept leaves, a perfect night for patrol. The night was a usual patrol, a few home invasions, a bank robbery, a tip from Babs, and a crack with a gun. The usual.

I stopped by the girl's apartment, checking up on her. The lights were off in the building, and I heard she was staying at a neighbor until a foster home could be set up again. 

Pulling out my binoculars, I focused in on the figure. It was the girl, glower and all. What the hell was she doing on the roof at this forsaken hour? It was 2:30, the sun wasn't going to rise for a few hours now, and the sun had set a long time ago.

I slipped my car into a parking lot a few buildings away, allowing my jump line to take me to her building. The time it took me to scale the building and slip behind the generator, it was already 2:35.

Sarah still hadn't moved. Her arms were wrapped around her body, as if she was keeping herself warm in the cool night. Her hair whipped around her face, and her eyes set foreword, facing away from me.

She didn't hear me coming.

"Sarah?" I called out, my breath coming out quiet, my breath fogging as it hit the cool air. I hadn't noticed the cold until now.

She didn't answer.

Did she hear me? Why wasn't she answering?

I took a step closer, bringing me a few feet away from her. She still didn't move, didn't speak, "Sarah?" I called out again. This time she turned to me.

"Fuck you." She whispered her voice scratchy from the pain she expressed, her voice rose, "I didn't ask for your help!" Her voice rose higher, reaching a shout, "I DON'T WANT YOUR HELP!!"

Her voice cracked and she dropped her head, "I agreed to everything you asked, why did you have to do that?"

I was confused, what the hell did I do? "I didn't do anything, what are you talking about?"

She looked at me, as if I was crazy, "The fucking foster parents, I didn't ask for your help, why the hell did you tell them?"

"I didn't, it wasn't me." I sighed, "What is wrong with the foster parents, you need someone to support you, until you're old enough to do something with your life." I paused, momentarily, "Look, they aren't there to replace your parents, just to provide for you while you figure out what to do now." I shrugged, "That's all."

She shook her head in disbelief, "You don't get it, do you?" she cursed under her breath, "You don't think Blockbuster had connections there to?" She laughed, "I'm going to be dead next week, I might be 'mugged' or 'accidentally' hit by car." She took a step back, "I can't allow that."

I reached out to her, my gloved arm beckoning her towards me, "We can get you into witness protection, I have a friend that can help."

She shook her head again, taking another step back, this time dangerously close to the edge of the roof, "No." she shook her head again, "I don't trust you."

That hurt. 

"But you can," I took another step, "I can help."

"I DON'T WANT YOUR HELP!!!" She screamed back at me, her voice ragged, "I told you that."

She spun on her heel, leaning over the barrier between her and the open air into the street twenty stories below, "I don't want to be here." She spat the last words out with bitterness.

I knew what was happening before her first step, before her first approach. But something was holding me back. I felt for the first time, helpless. I was too far away, yet too close. Could I catch her, can I stop her?

I grabbed out for her falling body, on the precipice of the building. She clung onto me for a second, a wild look of fear in her eyes. But this too changed, and cold determination masked her features.

She slipped, whether it was her own accord -or mine- I did not, and still do not know.

I couldn't catch her.

Her body plummeted twenty stories, and as I reached for the line at my hip and shot it out, I knew it was too late.

The body thumped, a dull shattering of bone.

Oh god.

I grit my teeth and turn away, oh god.

I could have stopped her. I could have seen it before it was too late. 

wasntfastenoughneverfastenoughwhywasntifastenough….

I shut my eyes, hoping to block out the image in my mind.

Falling…falling

There was nothing I could do.

Nothing.

Falling…falling.

She hit the ground.

And I couldn't catch her. 

_-finished-_


End file.
